Doing Own DMP, What About CCA's & Claiming Back Charges?

mary_mungo_+_midge

Hi all!
I've been a frequent lurker for the last year or so but only had my real LBM in Feb of this year. I owe £70000 ish over 9 CC's, so contacted all of them using the National Debtline template letters with a SOA and thankfully all have now agreed to reduced payments exactly as I requested. Must admit that I didn't expect them all to agree so easily, but I suppose even they must see that I have only been managing to pay them over the last few years by living on credit.
My DFD is 2018! but have based this on my minimum earnings as I am self employed and earn anything from £600-1500 a month depending upon how much work is available. I've managed to earn £1500 a months over last 2 months by working like mad and have used the spare £900 each month to get totally up to date with all my priority debts ( I had mortgage arrears, council tax arrears, non payment of gas & electric bills etc). I only have 4 years left on my mortgage and have set myself a personal target to get all my debts paid off by then. Now that they have frozen the interest charges etc I am really on a mission to throw every penny at these debts as I can see the figures coming down. Previously I was paying about £1200 a months in min payments and the debt was remaining static because of interest and late payment charges etc.
I work very hard all week, but am planning on using Saturday mornings as my paperwork catch up time and to try and do something debt busting every week. I have already written to query the possible mis selling of PPI on these cards ( it is now cancelled ) as I am self employed and prob could never have claimed any way. They've all written back with variations on 'No, Go Away!' saying that I knew the terms and conditions when I took out the card. However, I am planning on writing back and arguing my case until they get fed up with me!
I know I've had loads of late payment charges etc on all the cards especially over the last 2 years, but can't afford the £90 ( 9 creditors x £10) it will cost to request copies of all my previous statements. I've seen on here a template letter to get a copy of my CCA and info held on my account and that says to send a postal order for £1. Would this give me details of charges etc as well? As I can afford £9, but not £90. However, now that all my creditors are being nice and sympathetic to me ( even temporarily) I am worried they may turn nasty if I ask for CCA's or ask for charges back, so don't want to rock the boat. Has anyone had any experience of this or can give me any moral support. The only reason I am doing my own DMP is that I am very much an 'all or nothing' sort of person, when I had my LBM I needed to get started on sorting it straight away, I couldn't hang around for an appointment with Payplan etc. I literally wrote the letters at about 3am when I finally realised I would never get a good nights sleep until the debts are paid off one way or another. However, I must be honest, sometimes I feel totally out of my depth but read everyones posts on here, every day, especially Rayday who I know has done a self administered DMP, so thanks everyone x

Leixlip1

I'm also doing a self-managed dmp and in the begining was also very nervous about upsetting my creditors but after some "interesting" conversations with the likes of MBNA and Barclaycard I did the research (using this site and the Consumer Action Group site) and took control and gained in confidence in dealing with my creditors.
It will take time but you will get to know your rights, how to respond to creditors etc and there are always people here who can offer advice or steer you in the right direction. A year on and I no longer fear letters from my creditors with whom I all have agreements......well except Barclaycard who cannot produce a CCA.
Good luck.

jmhgibson123

my advice would be to try the smallest card first with regards to claiming back what they owe and if they get nasty it;s only a little one to deal with if you do one at a time it wont cost so much and hopefully the money you make back off one will pay for the next, i have heard of a couple of people on this site who have tried to get the charges back and the banks have been mean and told them they want full balances repaid but most people seem to have had success.
good luck with the debts and if you find yourself strugglin to pay get in touch with c c c s they will work out your budget but the best thing is they take one payment from you and divide it for you rather than trying to remember who to pay and when

mary_mungo_+_midge

Thanks for the replies, I am much more confident about dealing with creditors than I was before I started to really deal with my debts. Before I used to absolutely panic and basically agree with any payment plans they suggested by phone even when I knew I couldn't make the payments. Now, I ask for everything in writing and am paying what I suggested based on my SOA, not what they want. So far, so good.
Next question is that I am expecting to earn more money from July onwards as I work as a childminder and have 2 new chldren starting then so should be earning as extra £400 a month. Do I offer this straight away to my creditors, bearing in mind that there are no guarantees that this will be a permanent arrangement ( obviously I hope so but the kids could turn out to be absolute monsters or mum be unreliable about paying etc), wait until they do a 6 month review and then show that I have an increased income, or try and save the extra money to put towards any F&F offers sometime in the future? I don't want to offer more money now, if in the future I have less money coming in and have to adjust the DMP again.
I based my SOA on me earning £600 a month as barring illness etc this is the minimum I can normally expect to earn each month. Anyone any ideas? thanks x

Leixlip1

This is a personal view-point - if it's regular income then I would declare it. If it's irregular then I would save for full & final settlement offers.
good luck with the child-minding!